Troops kill scores of ISWAP fighters during invasion of military base

• Two soldiers killed in gun battle

From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maidugur

Troops of the Joint Task Force North-East Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) on counter-insurgency war have killed many fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorist group during an invasion of a military base in Borno State.

Dozens of ISWAP terrorists early Thursday infiltrated the OPHK  Forward Operating Base (FOB) at Magumeri, a town located some 46 kilometres north of Maiduguri, the state capital.

OPHK Spokesman, Lt Col Sani Uba in a statement yesterday disclosed that the terrorists gained access to the location under poor visibility. Although the terrorists recorded minor breaches on an isolated section of the camp, it was gathered that troops fought gallantly and decisively contained and defeated the attack by neutralising scores of the terrorists,” he revealed. He said further exploitation of the general area revealed extensive blood trails, body drags and the recovery of terrorist corpses. These, according to him, confirmed that the terrorists recorded heavy casualties during the attack.  Uba said troops recovered large cache of arms and ammunition from the battlefields as some of the terrorists abandoned their arsenal and fled. Sadly, two soldiers died in the battle while those injured, including an officer and other personnel, are now stable and receiving appropriate medical attention.  The spokesman also disclosed that some equipment were damaged by fire during the engagement. Similarly, he said some temporary structures at the base were also caught by fire from shooting during the battle.